Emily
by cantarbailar
Summary: Emily is dying and she only has one chance. Will Sam take that chance?
1. Chapter 1

Emily

She screams, she's dying, it's only natural. The pain, I can't stand it. Watching this is worse than the worst form of torture. I can't do anything. I can't stop it. I let this happen, I allowed it. _This is the only way, _a voice whispers in the back of my head. It's going to kill her though. _You don't know that. Maybe it will save her. It's worth a try. _The voice is right. It _might _save her, and she would have died if I'd done nothing. I had to at least _try. _Just _try._

It's nearly midnight when I walk through the front door. I see my beautiful Emily standing at the stove. She greets me with a smile. I go over and wrap my arms around her waist. She lays her head on my chest. I look at her ruined face and recall how those three long scars got there.

I stretched out my hand to her, pleading with her to understand. She said something and the hurt look in her eyes made me so infuriated with myself that I exploded. The searing heat coursed through me. My arm elongated, claws appeared on my hand, claws that had cut through Emily's soft flesh. She collapsed, and my claws raked down her arm. I froze with horror at what I'd done. Luckily, Jared and Paul were in their wolf forms at the time. They got Sue Clearwater, who worked on Emily while my brothers worked on me. Emily had survived, but she would remind me of my carelessness forever. Each time I see those scars, pain washes through me and I'm astonished that she doesn't see it.

I'm brought back to the present by the blood draining from Emily's face. She collapses, her knees giving out, she becomes a dead weight in my arms. I am frozen with panic and terror. What happened? What can I do? The hospital. But, that bloodsucker works there. He won't hurt her, he's proved that.

I run to my car, I have to get her to the hospital. Running would be faster but would attract too much attention. _If she starts getting too close, I'll get out and run, _I think to myself. I jam the key in the ignition and put the pedal flat on the floor.

I hear nearly silent footsteps behind me and I turn to find Dr. Cullen walking towards me, a somber expression on his face. Why does he look that way? What's wrong?

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, Sam," he says with a worried expression. I'd never seen him look that way before, so unsure, so conflicted.

"What is it?" I ask apprehensively, needing an answer but not really wanting one.

"I'm afraid Emily's not going to make it. She has a ruptured lung. There's nothing any of the other doctors can do about it, but I can do something. I know it's repulsive to you, but it just might save her. I can change her. Make her one of us."

I struggle for a few minutes, concealing the raging conflict inside me. She might live, but she might not. What have I got to lose? She'll die if I don't do anything but if we try this, she _could _live. That decides it. If there's any chance, I'll run with it.

"Okay, Doc. Do whatever you have to, but please, let me see her first. I want to explain this to her."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Sam…" he trails off nervously.

"Please? I have to tell her myself. I have to explain."

"All right."

I follow him to her room, I enter the room. I stare at her face, her beautiful, ruined face, in horror. It looks as if someone has taken all her color. Her beautiful russet skin is a pasty cocoa brown, and her lips are dry and cracked. She weakly lifts her head at the sound of my approach.

"Hey, Sam. I guess I don't look so good, huh," she says, her voice quivering with the effort. She licks her dry lips, wetting them in anticipation of her next attempt at speech. I cut her off before she begins.

"Dr. Cullen says you have a ruptured lung," I say, hiding my pain from her. I don't give her the chance to reassure me. "You can't pull through this on your own. There's nothing the hospital can do," I breathe deeply, preparing myself for the words I must say. "But there is something Dr. Cullen can try. It's worth a try."

Her eyes widen as the meaning of my words hit her.

"You would do that for _me_?"

"I have to _try. _I can't just wait for you to die, not knowing I had a chance to save you and didn't take it, not knowing if, maybe, it could possibly have worked and I didn't give it a chance."

"All right," she says with a determined expression, "I'm ready."

_Day One_

She's screaming, telling me to kill her, but this will anyway. I can't believe I let this happen. None of the bloodsuckers seem to have any particular worries about her discomfort. They told me it would hurt her, that it would feel like her veins were on fire. She would want to die, but, in the end, she would be immortal. It goes on.

_Day Two_

_Day Three_

_Day Four_

Her screaming stops, she is still. Her eyes open. They are vivid scarlet, as all newborns' are.

"Sam?" she asks. Her question sounds like a song, her face is unnaturally pale and beautiful, but, underneath it all, she's still Emily, _my_ Emily.

I throw my arms around her and kiss her. I see my own joy echoed back to me in her eyes, it is then that I realize, no matter how she looks or what she is, we will live forever, and _she_ is what I will live _for_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/added me to subscription lists. Sorry about the long wait, I kinda hit major writer's blocks on ALL my stories at the exact same time. It's getting better for this one, so here's what I've got!**

I sit, just holding my Emily, the Emily I got to keep because of something I had hated before. I examine her restored face. Her scars are gone now and I can still see undertones of her once russet skin. Her hair is longer but it still shines like still, black water. I reach for her face and stroke the cold, hard skin. I breathe deep, and the icy burn that accompanies her sweet scent is a welcome pain compared to what I would have felt if I had lost her.

I hear a door open and my head snaps up. Dr. Cullen enters the room and smiles at me. "Thank you so much, Doctor," I say.

"It was all you, Sam. You had to make the decision to let me try. Apparently, you made the right one."

"Yes I did," I agree.

"Well, I never thought I'd see this," says the new song-like voice of my beautiful Emily. "You, agreeing with a vampire. That's unheard of!" She laughs, and her laugh is the most beautiful sound.

Sometimes I wonder if she can see how much I love and adore her. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her. If I haven't proved that by letting her become this, I don't know how I can.

"I wonder why that worked," Dr. Cullen breaks in. "It shouldn't have, it should have killed her. Maybe it has something to do with the y-chromosome."

"She's not a werewolf. Of course it worked for her," I say, bewildered.

"I took a blood sample. She _had _the werewolf gene, it just wasn't fully activated."

"What do you mean 'fully activated'? She could have become a werewolf?"

"The right circumstances just never occurred," he shrugged, "They must have for Leah. Losing her father and breaking up with you, you falling in love with her cousin. All that pent up rage must have just exploded. I suspect the reason it has only been men in the past is that you are, in general, more prone to rash actions and emotions than the fairer, gentler sex."

"So, you're saying that if I had made Emily really mad, she would have turned into a werewolf?"

"Quite possibly."

"Just stop right there Doc. I appreciate what you've done, but we need to stop all this talk. If we have another girl change, I'll come see you again, but until then, I'm just going to assume it was a freak accident in Leah's case."

"All right. You're free to leave whenever you want, but Emily will need to remain with us for a while. Probably close to a year. You can visit if you'd like, but she really must stay away from humans."

"Very well," I sigh. "I'll show myself out. Thanks again Doc."

**Again, sorry about the wait, but this story was actually intended to be a one-shot. It's actually about the only one I ever get reviews on, so I decided to try to continue it.**


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